Yummy Yummy Yummy I've got love in my tummy...

Last week Silas started to eat cereal. When I say eat, I mean he spit it out right after I put it in his mouth... so it would be all over his face, bib, and hands. (see previous post) :) Well... today Silas took a very long nap and after his nap he was very hungry. So instead of going straight for the bottle, mom and dad encouraged me to try cereal first (Usually I give him a little bit of milk before the cereal). I was very reluctant to do that because he was screaming and I knew that cereal wasn't going to calm him down, but I tried it anyways. He cried while eating the first few bites, but mom made him a bottle and would give him a sip between every few bites and he eventually calmed down and ended up eating the whole bowl of cereal in just a few minutes! By bowl, I mean he had a TBSP of cereal mixed with 2 TBSP of water... and we put in some applesauce to help him with his poop! :) So since he did so well with the first bowl, I decided to make a TSP of cereal... and he ate all of that as well! I am so proud of him! I was starting to feel like he just wasn't catching on to eating with a spoon... but tonight proved that he can really do it. And the best part is that he hardly spit it out! I was so excited that I just had to post about it... and also I'm trying to do a better job of posting more often! I hope everybody had a great weekend and I hope your week is as equally great! I probably won't be posting this week... I tend to not have as much time during the week when I have to work! :)

Spending the day at GG and Papaw's!

Today we spent the day at GG and Papaw's and we had a great time! After I got home I realized that I didn't even take any pictures of the babies with their great grandparents, but here are a few that I actually did take!

Uncle Nate entertaining Silas

SO SO sweet! Nathan was determined for them to take a nap together :)

Checking each other out :)

They love each other... holding hands, how sweet :)

And a message to GG from Silas and Arden--- We hope your back feels better soon so that you can hold us! We love you!

3 1/2 months ALREADY!

Silas had his 3 month check up Thursday... just a little bit late. :) He weighs 16 lbs 8 oz and is 26.5 inches long!! He's a BIG BOY! He's above the 95th percentile in weight and off the charts in length! So in other words, in a few years he's going to be taller than me! Silas had to get 4 shots and he did so great! He cried a little bit... but that was to be expected.

I can't believe how much Silas is changing.... just in the past few days it seems that his personality has developed quite a bit. He's laughing... and just acting silly. A few weekends ago we went down to the state championship in Birmingham and on the way back home Uncle Nate wanted to ride in the back seat with Silas. (He's such a sweet uncle) Well he was playing with Silas and had him laughing more than he ever had before! Those are the sweetest sounds! :) Tonight, mom was feeding him cereal and he was laughing at her because she was being silly.

That was more good news... Silas gets to start eating food! He is eating rice cereal now... and I've given him some apple juice as well. He's definitely having to adjust to the cereal... he wasn't a big fan at first, in fact he cried the first time we fed it to him (pictures below), but he's getting much better! I was very excited that Dr.Royster gave me the OK for him to start food because he's been getting up at least once, and sometimes twice a night lately. I know some of you mom's think that sounds great... but for a while Silas had me spoiled because he wasn't getting up at all in the night. In fact, I was sometimes having to wake him up to take him to Mimi's. (Mimi is the lady that keeps Silas during the week) So I'm hoping that the cereal will help him sleep through the night once he gets used to it and actually swallows more than he spits out. :)

So one issue that I'm having with Silas is excema. He has it all over his body and it is just pitiful! I've tried using a milder soap (Cetaphil) and not bathing him every day. I've also tried Aveeno lotion... but it doesn't seem to be much help. It started out just on his arms... and at that point his doctor told me to use hydrocortizone cream... and that seemed to really help. But now it's everywhere... and I don't feel like I should lather him up in hydrocortizone cream all over his body... something about that just doesn't seem right. So his doctor told me to get Carmol. It used to be prescription and now it is OTC. But I've been everywhere... Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS... nobody carries it, they'll have to special order it. So... I guess I'll do that tomorrow. He also has cradle cap... and perhaps some excema on his head as well. And he scratches and claws the fire out of his head... yesterday he woke up and when I went to pick him up he was bleeding! So I'm really hoping we'll have a solution for this problem soon. Does anybody has any ideas??

Well... that's all I've got for now. Enjoy the pictures... and the video at the bottom is of Arden. It is the cutest video EVER! Arden is getting so big and is developing a huge personality... I just love being around her. I'm so glad that Silas gets to grow up with his "sissy" and they get to be so close! I also want to bring up the fact that I appreciate my parents SO much! They have been a HUGE HUGE HUGE help to me... and I know that I can never repay them. I'm so happy that Silas will be so close to his Tuck Tuck and Nonna!

Silas snoozing with Tuck Tuck... I love how both of their mouths are open! haha :)

About to eat some cereal! :) yay!

Look at me mommy!

All smiles

yum yum!

This was Silas' first cereal experience... he wasn't too excited

Big smile :)

Silas and Tuck Tuck... hanging out in the morning :)

"What mommy?"

Silas' first snow... he wasn't too happy to be outside... he was very tired

SO cute :)

Silas hiding his face from Uncle Nate

He fell asleep with his hand in the air... so funny

CHEESE!

Silas holding the bottle himself... this doesn't happen often, but I thought it was cute

Silas' mugshot! haha

Silas in his exercauser! Thanks GG! :)

Video of Arden... PRECIOUS!

VOTE FOR SILAS!

I entered Silas in the Valley Baby of the Month contest. Click here to vote for him! You can cast one vote per day, so vote as often as possible!

Silas rolled over!!

So Saturday night mom laid Silas on his stomach in the floor to play. Silas has started kind of propping himself up on his arms and looking around when he lays on him tummy... so he was doing that and looking so cute, so mom told me I needed to go get the camera. Well, as soon as I walked out of the room I hear mom go "Oh April... he just rolled over!" Of course I was so upset because I wasn't the first to see him roll over... but I'm happy that mom got to see it happen. We laid him on his tummy again about 10 minutes later, and he rolled over again!... and I got to see him do it that time! So that was exciting! He hasn't rolled over since then... but I'm so proud of him! Anyways, I don't have any pictures from that night... but here are some good pictures that I haven't put on here yet. Enjoy! :)

Silas with Uncle Geoffy and Arden

Cute picture of Aunt Lindy and Arden

Silas in his bath... what a BIG BELLY!

I love this picture of Silas with GG

Sweet Silas

Sleeping Silas

Me and Tuck Tuck giving Silas a bath

My hairy little monkey sleeping :)

This is for Uncle Larry :)

Ok, so if you know my family, you know that we are big Auburn fans! WAR EAGLE! :) Well... everybody except for my Uncle Larry. (We're still not sure what's wrong with him) Apparently when we were young, my dad would give my cousins Auburn gear, thus turning them into Auburn fans! So this Christmas, Larry decided it was time for payback and gave Silas and Arden their first (and only) Alabama outfits. We figured that we shouldn't be rude by throwing them directly in the trash when we got home... so we decided they could wear them for the Sugar Bowl. Well, Silas started to cry from the moment we put the outfit on him... and they were so upset about having their picture taken in these horrible outfits that they decided to protest with a "Go Utes!" sign. So... here it is! Sorry Larry... we really tried... we promise! :)

So much to say...

Ok... so there's so much to update you on! Silas is growing so so so fast! He is now 7 weeks and 2 days old. Every day he does something new! He's full of smiles and is even starting to make little laughing sounds... I love it!! His newest thing is that he's starting to suck his thumb when he's sleeping!!.... It's so cute, I just hope it doesn't last until he's 10! Silas had his check up a week ago... let's just say he is a BIG BOY! He weighed 12 lbs 4 oz. and is 24 inches long! (Last time I posted about his appt I said he was 24 in, but that was a mistake... he was 23 in. then) He got a shot at that appt and he did SO good! :) I think he did better than I did! haha.



This week I started back to work. :( I did a lot better leaving Silas than I thought I would do. He is staying with a lady named Diane (or Mimi). She keeps her two grandaughters, and they call her Mimi, so I figure Silas will catch on to that and do the same. She is great with Silas, and I know that he is taken care of and in good hands. Every day I pick him up and he smells so good! Not that he smells bad when I take him, but I think she cleans his face and lotions him up every time she changes his diaper. :)



Ok... so for the extremely exciting part of this post... Silas had his picture taken by Heather Bookout yesterday. Let me just say that SHE IS AWESOME! I heard of her a few years ago, and so sometimes I randomly look at her website and just goo and gaa at her work. She is doing these limited edition sessions for $35 for a 10 minute sitting... and then the prices for the photos are lower than usual. A girl at work told me about these sessions because we always talk about how we love Heather's photos. So I called on Tuesday, and Thursday I took Silas to have his pictures taken for the Valentine's session. Here is one of the pictures that Heather posted on facebook! I love this picture and I can't wait to see the others! I also signed up for the baby plan... so I have 4 regular sessions for Silas... the first is in 2 weeks. So my little man is going to be a little model! Ok so all mom's... you need to check out her website: Heatherbookoutphotography.com. Also, she has all of the limited edition sessions listed on her blog: bookout.squarespace.com. Call and schedule soon because from what I hear, the spaces are filling up fast!

P.S. Silas is doing much better as far as the fussing goes! He's starting to get in a little routine, and I'm starting to learn what his cries mean. :) So that is good news! Oh, and more great news... last night Silas slept from 9:30 till 5 this morning!! It was such a blessing to get a full night's rest! Hopefully he'll keep this up!

Crying Silas

So the last several days, Silas has been extremely irritable. It seems like he's only happy when he's sleeping. After he eats he's ok for about 30 minutes, and then he starts screaming again. I thought at first that maybe he has a rash and that was irritating him. When he was in the hospital he had some baby acne, and that has gotten much worse lately... to the point that I thought it was a rash because it's on all over his face, neck, and at the top of his chest and back. So I called the doctor today and they said to come in. The doctor reassured me that it was just baby acne, which was good because I felt so bad thinking that it could be a rash and that Silas could be itching so badly. But instead the doctor came to the conclusion that he needs to eat more often and that he could be having problems with gas... which makes sense. He doesn't burp really well after eating, and sometimes when he's fussy I can feed him and he poops while eating and then acts like he feels better. Anyways, the doctor told me to feed him every two hours and to give him gas drops before feeding him. So I feel like I'm pretty much going to be feeding him non-stop and I'm beginning to get a little stressed out. He's currently been eating about every 3 hours and I feel like I produce just enough milk for that. So I'm a little worried about not producing enough for him to eat every 2 hours. Plus, I'm going back to work in 1 1/2 weeks and I've been pumping so that I can continue nursing after I go back to work... and I'm wondering when I'm going to have the time to pump and if there's going to be anything to pump! haha. Anyways... I know everything will work out, I'm just beginning to get a little stressed out. Anybody have any advice or suggestions?? I feel completely clueless about how to handle this. Also, PLEASE pray for me since I'm having to go back to work and leave Silas with a sitter. I'm completely dreading it! Anyways, gotta go feed the little man!

Happy 1 month to Silas!

I can't believe Silas is already a month old! It seems like just yesterday I was in the labor and delivery room, miserable and thinking that labor would never end. God has given me such a blessing by bringing Silas into my life. He is such a sweet baby... and my heart melts every time I look at him (even at 3 AM when he wakes me up to eat). Thank you everybody for your prayers and support. I can't imagine my life without Silas... this has definitely been the best month of my life! Hope you enjoy these few pictures... there are more to come I promise!

Bath time... or as I told mom today, "Silas needs a shower"... haha, mom then asked me when Silas started taking showers. :) My mind has been a little off lately!

All bundled up... going to eat at Connor's

Sleeping Silas... isn't he a cutie?

Me and Silas... I'm lookin a tad bit rough, I'm just a wee bit tired :)

Sleeping again... with his little booty sticking up in the air